The Verge confirms an earlier story by Mary Jo Foley. "Microsoft is preparing to revive the traditional Start button it killed with Windows 8. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have revealed to The Verge that Windows 8.1 will include the return of the Start button. We understand that the button will act as a method to simply access the Start Screen, and will not include the traditional Start Menu. The button is said to look near-identical to the existing Windows flag used in the Charm bar."

It's hard to imagine people buying Windows 8 and not being able discover it either by themselves or with help AND then upgrading to Windows 8.1.

I just don't think Metro adds anything, yet. It's nice to have a tablet emulator included in Windows, but Microsoft should know there would be at least a very long transition period from classic stuff to more modern Metro.

If Metro means, clean, mean and lacking options I think classic desktop applications will be with us for a long time. Even Office 2013 isn't Metro and after trying it it seems like Office 2010 with a slight Metro facelift.

I and many people think it's easy to fix Windows 8: boot to classic, Start menu, done. Have a boot in to Metro as an option, why not.

It's hard to imagine people buying Windows 8 and not being able discover it either by themselves or with help AND then upgrading to Windows 8.1.

Yeah, that might be unlikely, but I was thinking more of the people trying it for the first time and getting frustrated by it. I think they would have better luck if there was a start button. I was watching tv with a non tech friend, and they literately shouted at the tv when some ad described windows 8 as "easy to use".

Windows 8 isn't difficult, but going from Windows 95 all the way to Windows 7 is almost zero learning curve. If you're a Windows 95 guru, frozen in time and revived many years later and shown Windows 7 you can operate it.

With Windows 8 there is more to figure out, mainly due to the Metro screen, which may probably prove very difficult for the less talented among us.

When I asked a co-worker what version of Windows she had at home she replied it was all strange so I knew it was Windows 8.